O's game blog: The 2021 season opener

The Orioles open their 68th season today when they play the Boston Red Sox in Fenway Park. It is the start of a three-game series and season-opening six-game road trip that also takes the Orioles to Yankee Stadium before the April 8 home opener. That is also against Boston.

The 2020 Orioles played 40 of their 60 games within the American League East. They went 5-5 against Boston, 4-6 versus Tampa Bay, 3-7 against New York and 2-8 versus Toronto. They went 5-14 in division road games.

At 12-15 (.444), the O's owned the seventh-best overall road record in the AL and their road record ranked 16th-best in the majors. Baltimore batters ranked first in the AL and third in the majors with a .273 team batting average on the road last summer. The Orioles led the AL and ranked sixth in the majors with a .767 team OPS on the road. O's pitchers recorded a 4.68 ERA in 27 games on the road to rank seventh in the AL and 15th in the majors.

The Orioles had a 10-6 (.625) record in 16 day games in 2020. Their day-game record ranked third-best in the AL and fifth in the majors. All three contests in this series are day games.

Left-hander John Means (2-4, 4.53 ERA in 2020) will make his first opening day start today. Means went 2-1 with a 1.52 ERA and 0.63 WHIP over his final four starts of last season. Over 23 2/3 innings he walked three and fanned 30.

An 11th-round draft pick in 2014, Means went 12-11 with a 3.60 ERA in the 2019 season. He made the All-Star team in the AL and finished second in the AL Rookie of the Year voting.

Means was the losing pitcher in his only 2020 start against the Red Sox. He gave up four hits and three runs, including two homers, in three innings on Aug. 21. In seven career games, he is 3-2 with a 4.46 ERA and 1.165 WHIP. In three career games and 13 1/3 innings at Fenway Park, he is 1-1 with a 6.08 ERA.

Last season the Orioles (25-35, .417) finished a game ahead of Boston (24-36, .400) for fourth place in the AL East.

The Red Sox starter today is right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (4-2, 3.72 ERA in 2020). In nine starts he posted a 1.200 WHIP. He was more likely to give up a home run (1.5 per nine innings) than a walk (1.3 per nine innings) and his strikeout rate was 9.7.

Eovaldi has one of best velocity fastballs in the game. He averaged 97.4 mph per fastball last year and has been at 97.0 or above every year since 2016. He has led the majors from 2011-2020 with a four-seamer average of 97.0. Carlos Martínez of St. Louis is next at 96.9 and Gerrit Cole of the Yankees is third in that span at 96.8.

In three starts last season versus the Orioles, Eovaldi recorded 75 percent of his 2020 wins. He went 3-0 with an ERA of 0.95, allowing two earned runs over 19 innings with three walks and 18 strikeouts. In 12 career starts against the Orioles, he is 6-1 with a 4.15 ERA and 1.500 WHIP.

The Orioles went 3-3 in six games at Fenway Park in 2020, slashing .306/.369/.500 with 18 doubles and eight home runs. Trey Mancini is a career .359/.429/.612 in 103 at-bats with 10 doubles, four home runs, and 21 RBIs in 27 career games at Fenway Park.

Third baseman Maikel Franco has played four career games in Boston and has recorded a multi-hit game in each, including a career-high-tying four hits on June 13, 2017. He's batted .556/.636/.667 (10-for-18) with two doubles in these games. Outfielder Austin Hays has played in nine career games at Fenway and is hitting .375 (12-for-32) with two home runs.

2020, MLB leaders on an 0-0 count:

.409 - Orioles
.408 - San Diego
.399 - Atlanta
.394 - New York Mets
.373 - Washington